1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus generally called a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) being operated as an image processing apparatus, and in particular, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus configured to edit an image captured by a digital still camera and the like by enlarging or reducing the image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a case where a user manages images captured by an image capture apparatus such as a digital still camera and the like, the user generally uses an image processing application program running on a PC.
Further, in recent years, with the advancement of PC performance, a user can post-process and edit a captured image according to the user's own preference. In the meantime, miniaturization and large capacity of storage media have rapidly progressed to such an extent that digital still cameras can capture a large number of images.
Under such circumstances, in order to effectively perform post processing on a large number of captured images, various tools are emerging which set parameters for image processing for every image, for example, resize processing such as enlarging or reducing an image, and finally collectively process images.
However, in a case where images are collectively processed by a PC, there are the following problems. First, to perform the resize processing using the collective processing, it is a common practice for a user to specify an output rectangle, and then,
(1) to forcibly resize an image to the size of the specified output rectangle, or
(2) to resize an image to a size where the image is inscribed or circumscribed by the specified output rectangle.
However, in a case where images to be processed contain both a vertical image in which its height is larger than its width and a horizontal image in which its width is larger than its height, the above method (1) may create the following problem.
That is, there is a problem that if the vertical image is resized to a horizontally-long specified rectangle or if the horizontal image is resized to a vertically-long specified rectangle, the resized image becomes extremely distorted with respect to the original image, and eventually becomes non-practicable.
On the other hand, according to the method (2), there are cases where the output size becomes greatly different between the vertical image and the horizontal image. For example, in a case where a vertical image having 800 pixels vertical and 600 pixels horizontal is set to be outputted as an image having 640 pixels vertical and 480 pixels horizontal, the resized output image becomes a vertical image having 640 pixels vertical and 480 pixels horizontal. Thus, no problem is arisen. However, in a case where a horizontal image having 600 pixels vertical and 800 pixels horizontal is set to be outputted as an image having 640 pixels vertical and 480 pixels horizontal, the resized output image becomes a horizontal image having 360 pixels vertical and 480 pixels horizontal, which is an extremely small image compared to the set number of pixels.
FIG. 10 is a view illustrating these problems. FIG. 10 shows a case where the same resize output rectangles 1011 to 1013 are specified with respect to resize object images 1001 to 1003. In the case of the resize object images 1001 and 1003, since the vertical-to-horizontal relation is not extremely different from the resize output rectangles 1011 and 1013, practical resized images 1021 and 1023 can be obtained.
On the other hand, in the case of the resize object image 1002, since the vertical-to-horizontal relation is extremely different from the resize output rectangle 1012, a reduced resized image 1022 is eventually obtained.
In view of such problems, with regard to a resize processing accompanied with the rotation of an image, there is a known technique in which, when a copy is made, rotation of an image is performed as occasion demands, and a magnification varying processing is performed on the rotated image (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-152862, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,033).
In this technique, an image (resize object image) obtained by reading an original is rotated so as to be matched with the orientation of an output sheet, and the size of a resultant copy becomes the same as that of the output sheet (resize output rectangle).
However, the above technique is not directed to acquiring a resized image whose orientation is the same as the orientation of an original. In a copying machine such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-152862, no real problem is arisen. However, particularly in the case of an image captured by a digital still camera, a major problem is arisen if the orientation of the image is changed.